Skeletons
by Jen the Genie
Summary: Everyone has at least one skeleton in their closet....


title: Skeletons.   
Author: Jen the Genie  
Category: Humour/Friendship  
Rating: G  
Spoilers: None.  
Archive: Make my day - just keep my details attatched and let me know where so I can come visit.  
Disclaimer: Oh Mr Carter, must confess to you  
Had a couple of hours to kill, so borrowed you know who!  
Promise to return them, as quickly as I can. Oh Mr Carter what a naughty girl I Am!  
  
Acknowledgments: Thanks Frohike *Grin*  
and thanks to Cat Caprenelli (where ever she may be these days!)  
  
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"Hi!, Sorry I'm late..." Dana Scully threw her briefcase on her chair and shrugged off her overcoat.  
  
"Uh...Oh Hi Scully" Mulder glanced briefly in her direction before returning to the computer screen.  
  
"Something interesting?" Scully peeled off the lid of her double latte and sniffed the brew.  
  
"Sort of." Mulders nose twitched as the aroma began to permeate the basement office "To tell the truth, I got bored so I've been checking out this site full of urban legends that Frohike mailed over." His eyes fell with a look of longing on her cup. "Don't suppose you've got two of those?"  
  
"Nope!...But I am willing to share." With a smile Scully took a quick slug, wincing as it scalded her tongue. "So G-man, what exactly are these urban legends? Anything that might amuse me?" She wiped the trace of lipstick off the rim of the cup before passing it over.   
  
"Usual thing. If I had a dime for every microwaved Poodle or guy that mistook an epileptic fit for an orgasm, I'd be able to retire with benefits!" Mulder took a quick gulp of the coffee, grimacing as the lack of sugar registered. "I did find one that I thought might just raise a smile....take a look at this." He quickly hit the 'back' icon at the top of the screen. As the previous page began to scroll into view, Scully positioned herself at his shoulder eager to share in the latest revelation.  
  
"Dig this! - The case of the flying stiff!" Mulder began to read aloud, "Take two medical students, one of the worst snowstorms in the area and what do you have?"  
  
As Scully began to silently read along with her partners narration a strange chill began to rise in her body. As the chill began to crawl upward into her stomach, her grip began to tighten on the back of his chair.  
  
"Not all stiffs end up in the cold store - well not according to this tale from the John Hopkins Memorial Hospital....."  
  
"Oh No!" Scully yanked on the back of the chair with such force that Mulder was very nearly catapulted out of it.   
"Oh no!" she repeated, stunned.  
  
"Hey! What the...?" As Mulder swung the chair to face his partner he noticed that all the early morning colour had suddenly drained from her face "Scully?...Scully, you okay?"  
  
Grabbing the coffee out of Mulders hand, Scully downed the remainder in one, then moved ashen faced to her chair. "It can't...I mean...I don't believe this!" she murmered as she sank into it's seat.  
  
"What?" Mulder leaned over the desk concerned."What? What is it?" he repeated confused. Scully continued to stare at her her hands, hands that were shifting nervously in her lap. Finally she raised her eyes "Mulder this isn't an Urban Legend!"  
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"I mean that this is true..I mean ..Oh God how do I explain this..." her voice trailed off as a blush began to creep over her features. Mulder paused, sat back and allowed his mind to process this news. "So what exactly are you telling me here Scully?" He raised an eyebrow.  
  
Scully took a deep breath."I never told you that I was a student at John Hopkins did I," Her blush deepened "I never imagined that this would come to light...let alone end up on a site like this." She was now almost crimson with embarrasment.   
  
"You mean?...." The look on Mulder's face suggested that he didn't know whether to make sympathetic noises or burst out laughing. After a few seconds the laughter won, despite his better judgement, and he very nearly chocked trying to keep it in.  
  
"It's not funny!" A glowing Scully hissed as he coughed and spluttered.  
  
"Says who?" Mulder gasped " And you don't believe in fate! I think it's hilarious that you've got a skeleton like this in your closet!..so c'mon 'fess up...What exactly do you know about this?"  
  
"It wasn't my fault."  
  
"I didn't ask who's fault it was...I just want all the gory details."   
  
"Okay, okay I'll tell you! But if you breath a word of this to any living soul...especially the 'three stooges', I swear that I'll shoot you again and it wont just be flesh wound."   
Scully glared at him until he gave her a contrite nod.  
  
"You know you can trust me." His lips twitched as he bit back smirk.  
  
"I'm serious..." Scully narrowed her eyes. Mulder held up his hands in surrender "I promise, cross my heart, scouts honour, whatever you want,...just please tell me."  
  
Scully pondered for a moment. If only she hadn't reacted. If only she'd kept her mouth shut and played dumb! Now that Mulder had an inkling of her involvement he'd be at it like a dog with a bone until she gave in and told him. With a sigh and a sweep of her hand through her hair she started.  
  
"I was training at JH when I met Cat, that's Catherine Caprenelli - we started out as room mates and ended up best friends. We were both taking Forensic Pathology so we worked as a team a lot of the time, that's when I realised what a the definition of a walking disaster was!" Scully paused a feint smile crossing her features at the recollection."Anyway, we would help out the Deiner's in the morgue, moving bodies, cleaning up, that sort of thing and in exchange they gave up help when we were writing up case notes, allowed us extra time and parts for study..."  
  
"But what does this have to do with a flying stiff?"  
Mulder asked inpatiently.  
  
"I'm just getting to that.I'm trying to give you some background here. " Scully scowled "It's bad enough that I'm telling you this at all, without you interupting!"  
  
"Sorry, sorry! Carry on."  
  
Cat and I were working a night shift when we got a call to collect a body. Some poor guy had passed away on a ward and we needed to get him down to the cold store. As that 'legend' says it was one of the worse snow-in's we'd had in years and the cold store at JH is way down in the basement..."  
  
"please tell me you decided to bypass the lift and drop him off a balcony!" Mulder grinned hopefully.  
  
"If you're going to keep this up then I've got work to do!" With a huff Scully turned back to her table and began to boot up her computer.  
  
"Aww C'mon Scully, don't get all pissy on me!" Mulder pouted  
"I promise I'll quit interrupting until you're finished...See shutting up." He made a zipper movement across his mouth  
  
"Thank you! Now where was I? Oh yes, the basement....Now the corridor down to the basement had a slope on it like an Olympic ski-jump and we didn't realise that the floor was covered in a thin sheet of ice...well not until Cat goes skating across it with all the grace of Tonya Harding and ends up on her butt. Of course I decide let go of the trolley to help her up..."  
  
"Didn't put the brakes on then?"   
  
"No...I mean, I didn't think the guy was going anywhere!" Scully reluctantly acknowledged the mental image she conjouring and tried not to smile. One look at Mulders expression and she knew that he was way ahead. "The trolley took off like a bat out of hell and all Cat and I could do was watch in horrified fascination, hoping against all the odds that it would stop when it hit the wall at the bottom...dit it? Did it hell! It careened around the corner and then we heard this almighty crash!"  
  
"Is it a bird? Is it a plane?" The grin that was spread across Mulders face had now reached cheshire cat proportions.  
  
"Not quite! When we got to the bottom,there was glass everywhere, the trolley was there, stuck half way out of a window but no stiff- sorry deceased. The body, which Cat had forgotten to strap down properly, had been catapulted out into an eight foot snow drift. Mulder I wanted to die!" Scully shivered as her cheeks began to colour again. "It tooks us nearly two hours to dig him out! I made Cat swear that we'd never tell anyone...."  
  
"And no-one ever found out before now?" Mulder guffawed "I have a whole new respect for you Scully. If I had a tale like that I'd be dining out on it for years."  
  
"Well, I'm not proud of the fact that I, we, treated a dead person with so little respect." With a frown Scully stood up and smoothed the creases out of her skirt."Not to mention the fact that we both could have been kicked out of med school if word had gotten out."   
  
" But it didn't...and you're here. It was an accident! A quirky twist of fate! A banana skin or should I say sheet of ice, on the path of life!" Mulder stood, put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a re-assuring hug. "As far as I know, no names appear on the site - the only people who know you were involved are you, me and what did you say her name was?"  
  
"Cat! But that's not the point." Scully sighed."It's a matter of profesional pride Mulder..."  
  
"And pride cometh before a fall - or so they say." Mulder slipped his finger under her chin, lifting her face until she was forced to look him in the eye. "Don't forget your talking to the king of the cock -ups, Duke of Dorkdom...don't you think you're being a bit hard on yourself?"   
  
Scully finally smiled "Probably."  
  
"So how about I sooth your injured pride this evening with a take-out and a bottle of wine? You've peaked my interest in the secret life of Dana Scully - the med school years." he hit her with a hopefull lop-sided grin.  
  
"No way buster! I've already told you more than you're ever going to let me live down!" Scully shot back "I'll go dutch on the take out and I get to choose the wine...you can rent us a video."  
  
"It's a done deal then." Mulder narrowed his eyes micheviously "I'll see if the rental shop has 'Night of the living Dead' shall I?"  
  
"Mulder! One more crack like that and you're a dead man!"  
  
Fin  
  
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Right, if anyone wants me I'll be back in my lamp!  
  
  
  
  



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